Labour entryism row: John McDonnell attended celebration of Leon Trotsky and praised ‘importance’ of his ideas

Jeremy Corbyn’s closest political ally attended a celebration of Leon Trotsky and praised the “importance” of his ideas, The Telegraph has learnt after the Labour leader dismissed concerns of hard-Left entryism as “nonsense”.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor who chairs Mr Corbyn’s re-election campaign, joined socialist activists to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Trotsky's death in September 2010.

Mr McDonnell “spoke about the importance of Trotskyism for the struggle against the bosses and the Tories”, according to an account of the meeting.

Mr Watson last week sent a dossier of evidence to Mr Corbyn to show hard-Left activists linked to former banned organisations were entering Labour, warning of “old hands twisting young arms”.

In an interview with the Observer, Mr Corbyn dismissed the “alleged entryism”, saying that “at no stage in anyone’s most vivid imagination are there 300,000 sectarian extremists at large in the country who have suddenly descended on the Labour Party”.

He went on: “Sorry Tom, it is nonsense – and I think he knows it’s nonsense. Let’s get on with campaigning Tom. Thanks.”

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Yet comments by Mr McDonnell uncovered by this newspaper undermine attempts to distance the leadership from the thinking of Trotsky, the Marxist revolutionary who helped overthrow the Russian government in 1917.

On September 21, 2010, Mr McDonnell was among 60 people who attended an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of Trotsky's assassination. He was a backbencher at the time and one of six to give speeches.

An account of the meeting on a left-wing website says: “John McDonnell spoke about the importance of Trotskyism for the struggle against the bosses and the Tories, arguing that it should mean a combination of political radicalism and non-sectarian orientation to work in mass labour movement organisations.”

Another speaker was Jill Mountford, who according to the report “argued that even socialists, hostile on principle to any ‘established’ authority, should regard Trotsky as a hero”.

She was expelled from Labour in February over her links to Alliance for Workers’ Liberty, the group that put on the event. Ms Mountford is now on the ruling committee of Momentum, the pro-Corbyn activist group.

Mr McDonnell, who once named Trotsky and Lenin among his biggest influences, has also spoken about his affinity for the communist revolutionary in Parliament.

In a House of Commons debate on bankers’ pay in July 2011, Mr McDonnell said: “As someone who still sees the relevance of Trotsky’s transitional programme, I am attempting not to salvage capitalism but to expose its weaknesses.”

When another MP mentioned a “reformed Trotskyite” during the debate, Mr McDonnell joked: “Some of us are not completely reformed.”

Since becoming Labour’s shadow chancellor, Mr McDonnell has often made light of his political leanings, once quoting from Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book in a stunt during the 2015 Autumn Statement debate which backfired.

However there is genuine concern among moderate Labour MPs that the surge in new members includes people who are barred under rule changes pushed through during the heated battles with the hard-Left in the 1980s.

A Labour source said: “It would be nice if John McDonnell paid tribute to the achievement s of the last Labour Government as frequently as he praised the achievements and ideology of Leon Trotsky.”

A spokesman for Mr McDonnell said: "John speaks and debates on numerous platforms across the political spectrum.

"His academic background is in political history so it's no surprise he would have responded to such a request like this in which he argued that if you can learn anything from Trotsky, it is his analysis of how a political party can become bureaucratised at the top and then have its internal democracy subverted from above."

In a separate development, it emerged a legal challenge attempting to win the right to vote in the Labour leadership race for 130,000 new members had been dropped.

The five Labour supporters pursuing the case have decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court after being defeated in a ruling last week.

Mr Watson hit back at Mr Corbyn's comments on Sunday night, saying: "I have never claimed that hundreds of thousands of new joiners are revolutionary socialists and those who claim I did are attacking a straw man."

"I simply want to ensure that organisations like the Alliance for Workers Liberty, who have instructed all their members to join the Labour Party and target our youth sections for recruitment, are dealt with under our rules."